10
expert groups to study core issuesReview of
ConstitutionNEW DELHI,
March 29  The National Commission for Review of
working of the Constitution today announced setting up of
10 expert committees to go into core issues, including
enlargement of fundamental rights and electoral reforms.

Ceasefire
agreement between Centre, BLTNEW DELHI, March 29  The Union Home
Ministry and the Bodo Liberation Tigers (BLT) have agreed
to set up a joint monitoring group (JMG) to oversee the
suspension of operations by security forces against the
BLT announced earlier.

Special
protection for Ilyasi in jailNEW
DELHI, March 29  The producer of Indias
Most Wanted, Suhaib Ilyasi, has reportedly been
given special protection in Tihar Jail for security
reasons. Ilyasi reportedly had threats to his life from
dreaded criminals arrested after his TV serial was aired
on a private channel.

Trial
of Karunakaran soonNEW DELHI,
March 29  Decks were cleared for the trial of
former Kerala Chief Minister K. Karunakaran and others in
the controversial palmolein import case when the Supreme
Court today dismissed their plea for quashing the FIR in
the case.

Judicial
reforms a priorityMUMBAI,
March 29  Union Minister for Law, Justice and
Company Affairs Ram Jethmalani has declared his resolve
to improve the judicial system to remedy the delay in the
dispensation of justice.

CJI
flays govt on HC postsNEW DELHI,
March 29  Chief Justice of India A.S. Anand today
criticised the executive for delay in filling in a large
number of vacancies in various High Courts and said
despite his clearing names of judges, the appointments
were delayed.

BJP
not bound to accept RSS decisionsBHOPAL,
March 29  BJP president Kushabhau Thakre today said
the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government at
the Centre was not bound to accept the decisions of the
RSS.

Plea
to give visas to Sikh NRIsNEW
DELHI, March 29  The Vice-Chairman of the National
Commission for Minorities has appealed to the Union Home
Minister to provide visas to Sikhs living abroad to
enable them visit Punjab and assess the situation there.

Turkish
PM arrives on FridayNEW
DELHI, March 29  Indo-Turkish relations are poised
to enter a period of consolidation and positive growth
with the arrival of Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit
here on Friday on a three day official visit.

Suicide
capital of the regionSRIGANGANAGAR,
March 29  Ashok Kumar, a resident of
Shrivijaynagar town of this border district of
Rajasthan ended his life after consuming poison
following a dispute between his mother and wife.
His mother, Shiela Devi, also ended her life by
consuming poison when she came to know that her
son had taken poison.

4
held for forging travel documentsNEW
DELHI, March 29  The Economic Offences Wing of the
Delhi Police arrested four persons on charges of forging
travel documents, including visa forms of the USA, UK and
Canada.

CPM
condemns clearance to FBI office in IndiaNEW DELHI,
March 29  The CPM today condemned the reported
moves by the Vajpayee government to give clearance to the
US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to set up an
office in India and said it would endanger national
security and infringe upon the countrys
sovereignty.

Charges
against Rao, Buta proved: CBINEW DELHI,
March 29  The charges of conspiracy and abetment of
crime have been proved against former Prime Minister P.V.
Narasimha Rao and former Union Home Minister Buta Singh
during the trial in the MPs bribery case, the CBI told a
Delhi court today.

CBI
remand for Dara SinghBHUBANESWAR,
March 29  Dara Singh, the prime accused in the
murder of Australian missionary Graham Stewart Staines
and his two minor sons was today remanded to CBI custody
till April 10 by a special CBI Judge here.

NEW DELHI, March 29
(PTI)  The National Commission for Review of
working of the Constitution today announced setting up of
10 expert committees to go into core issues, including
enlargement of fundamental rights and electoral reforms.

Emphasising that the
commission would review the working of and not rewrite
the Constitution, its spokesman Justice B.P. Jeevan Reddy
said of these expert groups, two or three were expected
to prepare background papers and a questionnaire for
nationwide circulation by April 22.

Justice Reddy told
reporters that while he would be the co-Chairman of the
committee on the strengthening of the institution of
parliamentary democracy and its accountability,
Attorney-General Soli J.Sorabjee would co-chair the
committee on the enlargement of fundamental rights.

The committee on
electoral reforms would be co-chaired by former Lok Sabha
Secretary-General Subhas Kashyap while Justice
K.Ramaswamy had been appointed as the Chairman of the
committee on pace of socio-economic change and
development and removal of poverty.

The latter, co-chaired
by former Andhra Pradesh High Court Judge K. Poonaiah,
would stress on rights and guarantees provided by the
Constitution to Scheduled Castes, tribes, other backward
classes and minorities, Justice Reddy said.

The lone active
politician in the commission, Mr P.A. Sangma, who had
raised the controversy over barring persons of foreign
origin from holding high public offices, would co-chair
the expert group on strengthening of Panchayati Raj
institutions, Justice Reddy said.

He said the expert
committee on Centre-state relations would be co-chaired
by Justice R.S. Sarkaria, who had already dealt with the
issue and given a report to the government in the 1980s.

The Editor of English
daily The Statesman, C.R. Irani, would co-chair the
expert panel on effectuation of the fundamental duties
while former Attorney-General K. Parasaran would co-chair
the expert committee on the enforcement of directive
principles for the achievement of preambular objectives
of the Constitution.

Former bureaucrat Abid
Hussain would co-chair the expert body on legal control
of fiscal and monetary policies and would be assisted,
among others, by the Reserve Bank of India Deputy
Governor Y. Venugopal Reddy and Solicitor-General Harish
Salve.

The lone woman member of
the commission, Ms Sumitra Kulkarni, would co-chair the
expert group on promoting literacy, generating employment
and ensuring social security, Justice Reddy said.

Justice Reddy said the
commission would elicit the responses of statutory bodies
such as the National Commission for SC/ST, OBCs and
Minorities and various organisations and research
institutions.

The expert panel on
socio-economic change and development would also have
former Union Welfare Secretary P.S. Krishnan and Mr
Sukumar Alikozhe as members, he said, adding that the
services of the Bangalore-based Institute of Social and
Economic Change would be used as a resource centre.

The group on enlargement
of fundamental rights would, among others, also have
former Attorney-General Ashok Desai and senior journalist
B.G. Verghese as members.

NEW DELHI, March 29
 The Union Home Ministry and the Bodo Liberation
Tigers (BLT) have agreed to set up a joint monitoring
group (JMG) to oversee the suspension of operations by
security forces against the BLT announced earlier.

The Union Home Minister,
Mr L.K. Advani, had made the announcement of suspension
of operations by security forces against the BLT in
Parliament on March 15. The suspension is initially
agreed upon for six months and could be extended
thereafter by mutual agreement.

At the end of a two-day
meeting here today between a team of representatives of
the Union Home Ministry led by its Additional Secretary,
Dr P.D. Shenoy, and a team of the BLT led by its
Vice-Chairman, Mr Chimang Brahma, the two sides agreed
upon ground rules.

It includes that the BLT
will completely abjure the path of violence, not engage
in violent or unlawful activities like killings,
kidnappings, extortions etc and agree to abide by the
Constitution of India and laws of the land.

The rules include that
the security forces, including the Army, paramilitary
forces and the stage police, will not launch operations
against the BLT.

Briefing reporters, Dr
Shenoy said the JMG would comprise the Joint Secretary
(North-East) in the Home Ministry who would be its
Chairman and Convener, two representatives each of Home
Ministry, Government of Assam and the BLT and a
representative each of the Army and the CRPF.

The JMG meeting would be
held once in two months in routine or could be held even
earlier in case of emergency, he said, adding that the
Chairman was authorised to decide upon the venue of the
meeting.

The BLT is one of the
three extremist groups operating in Assam with the United
Liberation Front of Asom and the National Democratic
Front of Bodoland being the other two.

The BLT is said to have
been responsible for nearly one-fourth of the violent
incidents in the state, especially incidents of attacking
vital and strategic installations like oil pipelines and
bridges.

NEW DELHI, March 29
 The producer of Indias Most
Wanted, Suhaib Ilyasi, has reportedly been given
special protection in Tihar Jail for security reasons.

Ilyasi reportedly had
threats to his life from dreaded criminals arrested after
his TV serial was aired on a private channel.

Special arrangement has
been made inside the jail complex to provide him security
sources in the jail said.

Ilyasi was arrested
yesterday on charges of harassment for dowry, dowry death
and tampering with the evidence. He was sent to jail on
judicial remand for 14 days by a Metropolitan Magistrate
in the Karkardooma court.

He was arrested after an
inquest report was submitted by a Subdivisional
Magistrate to the Delhi Police.

The sources said Ilyasi
was under the special protection of Tihar
security officers and all precautions were being taken to
ensure his security.

Ilyasis programme
aired on the private channel was the first of its kind in
India.

The programme proved
very helpful for the police of different states. It led
to the arrest of at least nine criminals. Some of them
were still lodged in Tihar, the sources said.

NEW DELHI, March 29
(UNI)  Decks were cleared for the trial of former
Kerala Chief Minister K. Karunakaran and others in the
controversial palmolein import case when the Supreme
Court today dismissed their plea for quashing the FIR in
the case.

The plea raised in an
appeal was dismissed by a Division Bench comprising Mr
Justice G.B. Pattanaik and Mr Justice R.P. Sethi
observing that Mr Karunakaran and other accused persons
shall be at liberty to raise all such pleas of law
and facts as are available to them during trial of the
case before the court concerned.

The appeal was directed
against an order of the Kerala High Court dismissing Mr
Karunakarans petition seeking quashing of the FIR
in the case.

After going
through the pleadings of the parties and keeping in view
the rival submission before us, we are of the opinion
that the registration of the FIR against the appellant
and others cannot be held to be result of mala fide or
actuated by extraneous considerations. The menace of
corruption cannot be permitted to be hidden under the
carpet of legal technicalities, the judges
observed.

The allegations made in
the FIR were stated to be based on the report submitted
by the CAG for the year ending on March 31, 1993. Mr
Karunakaran laid down his office as Chief Minister in
March, 1995, whereafter elections to the state assembly
were held in which the party and the front of the
appellant lost and the Left Democratic Front government
came into power on May 20, 1996.

On June 18, 1996 the
Commissioner Secretary requested the Director of
Vigilance (Investigation) to submit the enquiry report to
the government at the earliest after conducting a
preliminary enquiry into the allegations raised in the
legislative assembly pertaining to a palmolein deal in
which corruption worth crores of rupees had been alleged.

The Superintendent of
Police (Vigilance) is stated to have conducted a
preliminary enquiry up to March 1997 whereafter a
criminal case at the vigilance cell, Kowdiar, police
station, Thiruvananthpuram, was registered under Section
13 (1) (D) of the Prevention of Corruption Act and under
Section 120 B of the Indian Penal Code against seven
persons, including the appellant.

MUMBAI, March 29 (PTI)
 Union Minister for Law, Justice and Company
Affairs Ram Jethmalani has declared his resolve to
improve the judicial system to remedy the delay in the
dispensation of justice.

I will use my
expertise to bring about judicial reforms which,
ultimately will help the common man in the speedy
dispensation of justice, Mr Jethmalani said at a
dinner meeting hosted by him last night to mark his
victory in the Rajya Sabha elections.

Speaking on the
occasion, Mr Jethmalani said, I hope the lawyers
will realise that I am espousing a public cause (of
litigants) and shall support the reforms. I am not at all
angry with the lawyers but only concerned about their
well-being and welfare.

I am prepared for
a dialogue with the lawyers, he told reporters
later.

He said the proposal to
introduce written test for practising lawyers for
reviewing their registration every five years was just
like a refresher course for them.

The proposal had been
suggested by the Law Commission and shall be implemented
only after the lawyers agree. Moreover, the noted lawyer
said that the Bar Council of India had mooted the same
proposal way back in 1977 and it was certainly not his
brainchild.

On Chief Justice A.S.
Anands demand for financial autonomy to judiciary,
Mr Jethmalani said his ministry was ready to meet
the administrative expenditure needed for effective
functioning of the courts.

Mr Jethmalani also
favoured granting more privileges to judges and said he
had recently upgraded the facility of air travel for
judicial officers from economy class to executive
class.

Introducing
judicial reforms to modify the legal system would be my
topmost priority. However, if I am unable to achieve my
goal within two years, I shall accept my defeat
gracefully and retire from active politics.

In that event, I
shall not practise (law) but devote the remaining period
of my life in teaching students in law colleges.
Improvement in legal education is another area for which
I shall earnestly make efforts, he said.

The Law Minister said he
believed in espousing the cause of Hindutva and added he
would advocate the social and economic policies of the
BJP-Shiv Sena alliance in the state.

UNI: The century-old
Indian Penal Code still holds good, eminent criminal
lawyer and Law Minister Jethmalani asserted yesterday,
trying to silence demands that the code drafted during
British rule be scrapped.

Just because it
was a foreign product or drafted by the imperialist power
you cannot do away with it, Mr Jethmalani told a
meet-the-press organised by the Press Guild of India
here. He described the IPC as a great monument of
learning.

When a questioner
pointed out that it was drafted in 1861 during the time
of Lord Macaulay, the Law and Justice Minister countered:
show me any of the 511 Sections of the code that
are not valid today.

NEW DELHI, March 29
(PTI)  Chief Justice of India A.S. Anand today
criticised the executive for delay in filling in a large
number of vacancies in various High Courts and said
despite his clearing names of judges, the appointments
were delayed.

Chief Justices of
various High Courts enquire from me about the
appointments and my reply to them is that the names have
been cleared by the Chief Justice of India, but the
appointments are not cleared. There is something wrong
somewhere, Justice Anand said while speaking at the
closing ceremony of the Supreme Courts golden
jubilee celebrations, organised by the Supreme Court
Advocates-on-record Association.

He said with 159
vacancies out of a sanctioned strength of 608 in various
High Courts in the country, the judiciary was handicapped
in disposal of cases.

Had all vacancies been
filled the number of disposed cases would have definitely
gone up, he said adding that at an average over 1,300
cases were disposed of by a judge annually.

He said in 12,000
subordinate court, nearly 1,000 posts of judicial
officers always remain vacant and a proposal for creating
5,000 more posts had been gathering dust for years.

Referring to disposal
rate in Supreme Court, he said as on March 1 this year,
the pending cases had come down to less than 20,000 from
34,000.

Reiterating the need for
financial and administrative autonomy to judiciary,
Justice Anand said only 0.2 per cent of the GNP was spent
on judiciary by the government and 50 per cent of it was
generated from its own sources.

BHOPAL, March 29 (UNI)
 BJP president Kushabhau Thakre today said the
BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government at the
Centre was not bound to accept the decisions of the RSS.

The RSS is not our
(BJP) parental organisation. Both have their separate
cadres, he said in an interview with UNI.

He denied the reports
that the RSS had expressed concern over the economic
policies of the Centre. I have gone through the
economic resolution of the RSS. There is nothing of that
sort, he added.

Stating that the RSS did
not influence the policies of the BJP-led coalition
government at the Centre, Mr Thakre said the Opposition,
including the Congress, was giving undue leverage to such
issues to create wedge among the coalition partners.

He said the policies and
the programmes of the Centre were being conducted without
any interference from the RSS.

NEW DELHI, March 29
 The Vice-Chairman of the National Commission for
Minorities has appealed to the Union Home Minister to
provide visas to Sikhs living abroad to enable them visit
Punjab and assess the situation there.

In a statement issued
here on Tuesday, the Vice-Chairman, Mr Tarlochan Singh,
said once the Sikhs were given visas, they would be able
to visit Punjab and feel assured of peace prevailing
there.

Mr Tarlochan Singh has
denounced Sikh NRIs who staged black flag demonstrations
against the Indian Government in front of the Indian
Consulates in Vancouver and New York. He has said such
persons should get in touch with the Indian Sikh leaders
before taking negative steps that harm the Sikh
community. He is of the view that Pakistani agents are
always trying to misguide the Sikhs settled abroad by
fabricating stories to defame the Indian government.

The Vice-Chairman has
also hailed the statements of former Shiromani Gurdwara
Parbandhak Committee chief, Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra, and
Member of Parliament, Simranjit Singh Mann that the
Pakistan-trained mercenaries were responsible for the
massacre of Sikhs in Chatti Singhpora village in Anantnag
district in Jammu and Kashmir.

NEW DELHI, March 29
 Indo-Turkish relations are poised to enter a
period of consolidation and positive growth with the
arrival of Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit here on
Friday on a three day official visit.

With the signing of
three important Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and a
joint statement during Mr Ecevits stay in New
Delhi, the visit is likely to pave the way for
strengthening bilateral economic relations.

A senior official of the
Ministry of External Affairs told reporters today
stressing that the Turkish Prime Ministers talks
with the Indian leaders is expected to provide a
strong impulse to the strengthening of cooperation
particularly in the economic and commercial
spheres and fight against international terrorism.

During his stay in the
capital, Mr Ecevit will hold talks with the Prime
Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, and will call on the
President, Mr K.R. Narayanan, the Vice-President, Mr
Krishan Kant and the leader of the Opposition, Mrs Sonia
Gandhi.

Mr Ecevit has translated
parts of Bhagavadgita and Rabindranath Tagores
Gitanjali into Turkish language and would be
visiting Shantiniketan where he will be conferred with an
honorary degree of D. Litt by Visva Bharti.

SRIGANGANAGAR, March 29
 Ashok Kumar, a resident of Shrivijaynagar town of
this border district of Rajasthan ended his life after
consuming poison following a dispute between his mother
and wife. His mother, Shiela Devi, also ended her life by
consuming poison when she came to know that her son had
taken poison.

On March 21, Partap
Singh of this town set himself afire after his mother
refused to give him Rs 20 to buy drugs.

Last year, on September
6, one Shankar set himself afire at Dasehra ground in
broad day light. Another youth committed self-immolation
in the Purani Abadi area of this town on the next day.
Another elderly woman ended her life by jumping before a
running train on the same day.

Suicides seem to have
become a common occurrence in this border district which
has earned the dubious distinction of having the maximum
number of suicide cases in the region.

Sources said that in
1999, about 170 persons ended their lives through various
modes of suicides. Males outnumbered females.

More than 95 persons
ended their lives in 1998, 134 in 1997, more than 95 in
1996 and 95 in 1995. Those who committed suicide used
different methods the most common being consuming poison,
jumping before a train and hanging themselves from
ceiling fans.

While females showed a
preference for self-immolation, males favoured poison.
Most males who committed suicide were in the 20-25 age
group.

Police authorities say
breaking up of the joint-family system, unemployment,
drug-addiction and flashy life styles are the main
reasons behind the spate of suicides. In the past two
years, this trend has caught on so much that locals now
threaten self-immolation even to get petty demands
fulfilled.

The district police
booked 45 persons in 1998 for issuing threats of
self-immolation while more than 30 persons were booked in
1999. In the past two years ten persons, including a
municipal councillor, set themselves afire in public.

NEW DELHI, March 29
 The Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi Police
arrested four persons on charges of forging travel
documents, including visa forms of the USA, UK and
Canada.

The accused, Anil Bajaj,
Director of Tanveer Tours and Travels, and his
accomplices Vinod Dagar, Devi Sachdeva and Anil were
arrested from different places in the Capital, the police
said.

The accused used to file
applications of prospective clients with forged documents
at the Embassies and charged as much as Rs 4 lakh for
each visa. Eighty passport copies, 12 rubber stamps,
letter heads of over 80 companies, some fixed deposit
receipts and a printer were recovered from them, the
police said.

NEW DELHI, March 29
(PTI)  The CPM today condemned the reported moves
by the Vajpayee government to give clearance to the US
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to set up an office
in India and said it would endanger national security and
infringe upon the countrys sovereignty.

There is no reason
for an internal security agency of another country to be
allowed to set up shop in India, particularly if it is
infamous FBI, which is known for its espionage and
subversive activities, CPM Politburo said in a
statement here.

It said that in the past
many US intelligence officials had been caught collecting
information from their Indian contacts and added
such anti-national activities are now sought to be
legalised by the Government of India.

The party said the
clearance to the FBI was given soon after US President
Bill Clintons visit in the name of fighting
terrorism, drug trafficking etc.

NEW DELHI, March 29
(UNI)  The charges of conspiracy and abetment of
crime have been proved against former Prime Minister P.V.
Narasimha Rao and former Union Home Minister Buta Singh
during the trial in the MPs bribery case, the CBI told a
Delhi court today.

The charges against nine
other accused, including former Union Ministers Ajit
Singh and Satish Sharma and former Chief Ministers Bhajan
Lal of Haryana and M. Veerappa Moily of Karnataka, could
not be substantiated as witnesses had turned hostile, CBI
counsel R.M. Tiwari said in a 175-page synopsis submitted
to the trial court of Additional Sessions Judge Ajit
Bharihoke.

Mr Tiwari submitted the
synopsis as part of the final phase of the trial in the
case, upon which the court directed the CBI to supply
copies of it to all accused within two days and posted
further hearings for April 17.

The five other accused
against whom no witnesses had made any statement in the
court were former Karnataka Ministers H.M. Revenna and
Ramalinga Reddy, Bangalore-based liquor barons Thimme
Gowda and D.K. Adikeshavalu and V. Rajeshwar Rao.

According to the CBI
synopsis, the alleged conspiracy had three limbs 
the happenings at Andhra Bhavan where Rajeshwar Rao was
residing and at the residences of Ajit Singh and Buta
Singh here.

The case relates to the
alleged bribing of opposition MPs to defeat the July 28,
1993, no-confidence motion against the then Rao
government at the Centre.

BHUBANESWAR, March 29
(UNI)  Dara Singh, the prime accused in the murder
of Australian missionary Graham Stewart Staines and his
two minor sons was today remanded to CBI custody till
April 10 by a special CBI Judge here. Dara Singh, was
brought to the court here from Baripada Circle Jail amid
tight security and produced before the Additional Chief
Judicial Magistrate-cum-Special CBI Judge, Mr Sukumar
Sahu.

The CBI Counsel, Mr K.
Sudhakar, moved a petition before the Judge praying for
remanding Dara Singh to CBI custody for 15 days.

NATIONAL BRIEFS

Chhota
Shakeel aide killedMUMBAI:
A notorious gangster owing allegiance to
underworld don Chhota Shakeel has been gunned down in an
encounter here, the police said on Wednesday. Acting on a
tip-off that Abdul Sheikh will be arriving in the
north-eastern suburb of Chembur to eliminate a leading
businessman, the police laid a trap on Tuesday night. On
spotting the gangster and his accomplice, the police
ordered them to surrender but they started firing at the
police. In the polices retaliatory firing, Sheikh
sustained bullet injuries to which he succumbed later
while his friend managed to escape.  PTI

ULFA ultra shot
in encounterGUWAHATI:
An ULFA militant was killed and a policeman
injured in an encounter in lower Assams Kamrup
district, the police said on Wednesday. The extremist was
killed on Tuesday in an exchange of fire with the police
in which an Assam police commando battalion constable was
also injured, the police said adding that an AK 56 rifle
was seized from the slain ultra.  PTI

Student commits
suicideJAMSHEDPUR:
The police found a decomposed body of a student
from a hostel room of the Regional Institute of
Technology (RIT) at Adityapur here on Tuesday. The police
on Wednesday said Bhushan Kerketta, an engineering
student, was found hanging in his room. He was said to be
suffering from a chronic disease and could not appear in
the examination. The police confirmed that it was a case
of suicide.  UNI

Kathak Mahotsav
begins todayCALCUTTA:
For the first time, a Kathak Mahotsav showcasing
choreographic work on the dance form by establishing
dancers will begin in the metropolis on Thursday. The
four-day festival, which will feature noted exponents of
the form from all over the country, will offer a chance
to lovers of the form to analyse, see and discuss the
different styles and evolving forms, Kathak Kendra
Chairman Shyamanand Jalan told reporters on Tuesday.
 PTI

21 die of
diarrhoea in TNCHENNAI:
As many as 21 persons died of diarrhoea in Tamil
Nadu during the past three months, Health Minister N
Veerasamy told the state assembly on Wednesday. Replying
to a debate on an adjournment motion on reported
incidents of cholera deaths in some parts of Tiruvarur
district, he said the District Collector had denied the
reports. But 21 cases of diarrhoea had been reported from
January 1 to March 27 this year as contaminated water was
used for drinking in the district, he said.  PTI

Black pepper
disease checkedHUBLI
(KARNATAKA): An effective method to control
quick wilt disease of black pepper has been developed at
the Dr R.K. Hegde Memorial Agricultural Research Centre
at Sirasi in Uttar Kannada district. Mr V.M. Hegde,
scientist at the centre said it had already been proved
that the soil-borne fungal partplant pathogen
phyotohyhora capei capcici, the casual agent
of the disease, could be effectively controlled by
another soil-borne beneficial fungus called
trichoderma SP.  UNI

2 held for
killing birdsAHMEDABAD:
Two youths have been arrested in connection with
the alleged killing of about 100 birds. The feathered
ones were fed with a mixture of jowar and insecticides at
Palitana in Bhavanagar district. The police said on
Tuesday that 97 pigeons and two other spotted birds known
kabar were killed. The accused, identified as
Gameeha Waghri Hitesh and Narshi Jayanti, have admitted
killing the birds for money.  UNI